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As many as 33,500 badgers could be killed in England this autumn following the government's decision to extend the culls to 11 more areas.

The 11 new areas will be added to the 10 already licensed, where about 10,000 badgers were killed in 2016.

Devon now has six badger culls under way, with Somerset and Wiltshire having three each, with others set to be added in Cheshire, Cornwall, Dorset, Gloucestershire and Herefordshire, according to an article the the Guardian. The arrival of culling in Cheshire, of course, brings it closer than ever to Shropshire.

Professor Rosie Woodroffe, who took part in the landmark 10-year trial on badger culling, said: “It’s depressing that the government is pursuing badger culling over such huge areas when the benefits remain so uncertain. Data published today suggest that, after three years of culling, cattle TB in the first cull zones was still no lower than that in unculled areas.”

Steve Trotter, at the Wildlife Trusts, said: “We work closely with many farmers, day in, day out, and we recognise the pain and hardship of those whose cattle herds have been devastated by bTB, but killing badgers will not solve the problem. The primary route of infection is cattle-to-cattle contact. The government’s badger cull is flying in the face of science.” He said vaccination costs £82 per badger, compared to £6,800 per culled animal.

Ministers also announced the resumption of a badger vaccination scheme in “edge” areas between high and low TB regions. The scheme, suspended for the last two years due to a shortage of vaccine, will fund 50% of the costs of successful applicants. Restrictions on the movement of some high-risk cattle are also being put in place, which some scientists say is the key to ending the epidemic, according to the article by Damian Carrington.

It goes on to say that the total number of badgers to be killed across all the areas this autumn has been set at a maximum of 33,347 and a minimum of 21,797. The largest cull is one in Dorset that could see more than 7,000 badgers killed.

In a government paper titled Government Badger Control Costs 2016, the figures reveal that licensing costs had risen from £859,000 in 2013 to £1.28m in 2016, while the money spent on 'humaneness monitoring, including postmortems', had plunged from £2.6m in 2013 to £392,000 in 2016, and 'efficacy monitoring' from £2.3m in 2013 to£17,000 the following year - and zero in 2016.

Two men have been arrested as part of a police investigation into badger baiting in Whitchurch, the Shropshire Star online reported on 10th February.

Officers from Market Drayton Safer Neighbourhood Team assisted the RSPCA with two warrants under the Protection of Badgers Act 1992.

Items relating to badger baiting were seized.

Constable Mick Sturland, of West Mercia Police, said: “Two addresses in Whitchurch were searched and two men were arrested and articles relating to baiting offences were seized.

“These warrants were executed after intelligence received by the RSPCA, who will interview the arrested men.”

RSPCA press officer Lucy Cooper said: “The RSPCA joined police on two warrants which were executed in the Whitchurch area as part of an investigation into wildlife crime.

“Police have arrested two men. The investigation is currently ongoing.”

Undercover RSPCA inspectors have helped to bring a number of successful badger digging cases before the courts. Some of these have involved the use of advanced forensic techniques including DNA evidence.

In an attempt to involve more people in the debate about bovine TB and badgers, Environment Minister Liz Truss has said that bTB will affect ordinary households by threatening the supply of milk and beef.

On the Western Morning News website in an article headlined "Environment minister: badger cull will protect milk and beef", Truss is quoted as saying that bovine TB ravaging dairy and beef herds in the West Country is a “threat to our future food security”.

The article says: "In a sign the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs is seeking wider public approval for the controversial policy, Ms Truss shifted the emphasis towards the impact even on families living in the city with no farming connections."

The Badger Trust is taking its legal challenge to the operation of the latest culls to the Court of Appeal tomorrow (9th Oct 2014).

Everyone had expected the independent monitoring of the culls that was in place last year, to check their efficiency and humaneness, to continue this year, but the government refused to put this in place this time.

The appeal follows a hearing on 11th September where the vice-president of the civil division of the Court of Appeal agreed that the trust had a real prospect of success in its appeal.

A press release by the Badger Trust says the Court of Appeal will be asked by the Badger Trust to find that the environment secretary, Liz Truss, has unlawfully failed to put in place an independent Expert Panel to monitor and analyse the results of the continued culling of badgers in Gloucestershire and Somerset in 2014.

The trust says that the use of such a panel to oversee the culls was promised by the secretary of state while she is still considering whether to roll out culls to other areas. Without such a panel, there can be no proper assessment of the safety, effectiveness and humaneness of the culling operation, the trust says, which is necessary before any lawful decision can be made on whether to continue with the culls in other areas.

Professor Tim Coulson, member of the 2013 Independent Expert Panel, and Dominic Dyer, chief executive of the Badger Trust, welcomed the hearing's decision to grant an appeal.

Shropshire Badger Group is providing a free badger vaccination scheme to a number of farms across Shropshire as a contribution towards reducing bovine TB. Cage traps have now been placed on various farms and this process will continue until the middle of November. Most are well within the properties, and not visible to the general public, but some may be visible from public footpaths.

All the cages carry a notice explaining their purpose and in order to comply with government guidance as well as providing the best possible vaccination outcome, it is imperative that the cages are not touched or interfered with in any way. Badgers are very sensitive to the smell of humans and will then avoid the cages.

Although the cages will be in place for about a week at each location, the actual vaccination process only occurs over two consecutive nights. Badgers will be encouraged into the cages by baiting with peanuts and then early the following morning they will be vaccinated and released. Previous experience shows that they are generally very unconcerned about their experience, so much so that it’s not unusual for the same badgers to enter the cages a second time. They will have been marked initially and will not be vaccinated again but simply released.

The process does not disrupt the badger population, as is known to be the case with badger culling, and the whole idea follows the tried and trusted method of dealing with disease that has been used for years within both the human and animal populations.

This scheme is being provided completely free of charge to the farms concerned in an attempt to demonstrate that vaccination is the best way to deal with any residual disease in the badger population and that it can be delivered effectively by a voluntary organisation. It will cost Shropshire Badger Group about £8,000 over the four-year period of the scheme, and we would welcome any funding assistance.

The Shropshire Star has today (30 September) covered this story; you can read it here.